Hi!
> That was some really exciting stuff!
Yes, it was exciting to hear all the activity as XW-1 came up from
the horizon. Fun to work a new satellite on the first possible pass
for this part of the world. :-)
After hearing many more stations than normal on AO-7's pass at
0100 UTC, I knew there would be a crowd for XW-1. Many were
getting their non-FM setup lined up for the new satellite.
> Signals were good until the end of the pass when I think I was
> having some polarity fades on my fixed LHCP antenna. 1 to 5 watts was
> PLENTY on the uplink, even when crowded. I use a 10 element horizontal
> only yagi for the uplink.
Out here in DM43iu in the mountains almost 60 miles/100km
northeast of Phoenix AZ, the pass was only up to a maximum
elevation of 13 degrees. Despite the shallow pass and the
mountains all around here, it was very easy to copy the
downlink. Almost as easy to hear as VO-52. This satellite
will be a good one when it is available on a regular basis.
I used the same setup tonight as I do for the other non-FM birds
(two FT-817NDs without computer control, maximum 5W output,
Elk Antennas handheld 2m/70cm log periodic), and made 3
quick QSOs. Thanks to KD8CAO, K8YSE, and K7WIN for the
contacts. I heard many others, too many to remember without
replaying the recording I made.
After tonight, I can't wait to work XW-1's FM transponder tomorrow
night. I will be back in Phoenix for that scheduled pass, which has
about 8 degrees maximum elevation, but enough to work and
hopefully make some QSOs. Drew - I'll be interested in getting a
copy of that large file you have from tonight's pass, when I'm back
home and have access to broadband Internet again.
A big THANK YOU to Alan BA1DU, Michael BD5RV, and the
rest of the Chinese team that made and launched XW-1. It is
nice to have another satellite that - soon, hopefully - we can
regularly use.
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK
http://www.wd9ewk.net/